Drain construction for walls



1950 A. P. MARCH! DRAIN CONSTRUCTION FOR WALLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 28, 1956 c1 EH11 Fi i 2 ATTORNEYS Aug, 16, 1960 Filed June 28, v 1956 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent l 2,948,993 DRAIN CONSTRUCTION FOR WALLS Angelo P. Marchi, 1'407 Suubury Road, Columbus, Ohio Filed June 28, 1956, Ser. No. 594,500

2 Claims. (Cl. 50.114)

This invention relates to the construction of walls and floors for basements of buildings and particularly to novel method and structure which provide a novel drain systern for maintaining a basement floor free of water from the surrounding soil.

In general, the wall and floor construction of the present invention is formed by first building side walls on a suitable footer. A bed of water-permeable material such as gravel is next formed at the base of the inner surfaces of the side walls. A plurality of members forming vertically extending drain passages are positioned against the inner surfaces of the walls around the periphery of the floor space. Flooring material, such as concrete, is next poured over the floor space and against the inner surfaces of said passage-forming members. The flooring material, in the fluid state, urges the passage-forming members into position against the bases of the side walls and, upon hardening, the peripheral edges of the floor slab and the confronting inner surfaces of the bases of the side walls serve to maintain the passage-forming members in a location for receiving water seeping through the side walls to convey such water to the interstices of the waterpermeable bed underlying the periphery of the floor.

As an aspect of the present invention the above mentioned passage-forming members may be of novel construction consisting of a vertically disposed sheet or moulding formed of plastic, pressed wood products such as Masonite, or other suitable sheet material. The outer surface of the sheet or moulding is provided with spaced ribs or projections which engage the inner surface of the base of the confronting side wall. Such ribs or projections maintain the outer surface of the sheet or moulding in spaced relationship with the confronting surface of the base of the side wall to form the above mentioned vertically extending drain passages.

As another aspect of the present invention the above mentioned passage-forming members are positioned with upper portions thereof disposed above the upper surface of the floor to form a base moulding around the periphery of the floor at the junctions of the side walls with the floor.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for forming a basement side wall and floor construction which incorporates a drain system for maintaining the basement floor free of water from the surrounding soil.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel construction for the side walls and floor of a basement which construction incorporates simplified drainage structure that can be both fabricated and installed at low cost as compared to prior structures.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel construction for the side walls and floor of a basement which construction incorporates simplified drainage structure and also forms an attractive moulding around the periphery of the basement fioor at the junction thereof with the side walls.

Further objects and advantages of the present invenice tion will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a basement floor and side walls constructed according to the present invention;

. Figure 2 is a side sectional view of the construction of Figure l with the section being taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

, Figure 3 is a second side sectional view of the construction of Figures 1 and 2 with the section being taken along the line, 33 of Figure 1.

Referring next to the drawing, Figure l is a plan view of a basement floor, indicated generally at 20, and basement side walls indicated generally at 21. The side walls illustrated are of conventional construction and are built up from a plurality of individual concrete blocks 23. It will be understood, however, that the invention can be applied to other types of wall constructions.

As seen in the various figures, a plurality of passage forming members, indicated generally at 25, are positioned between the peripheral edges 26 of floor 20 of the confronting surfaces 28 of side walls 21.

As best seen in Figure 3, lower edge of each passageforming member 25 rests on a bed of water-permeable material 30, such as gravel, which in turn rests on a suitable footer 31 and the supporting earth underlying the floor space.. I i

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, each passage-forming member 25 includes an outer surface 33 provided with a plurality of spacers or projections 35 which engage a confronting inner surface 28 of a side wall 21. The spacers 35 are spaced longitudinally along member 25 to form vertically extending drain passages 36 for conveying water from the inner surfaces 28 of side walls 21 downwardly through passages 36 to a suitable horizontally extending drain means such as is provided by waterpermeable gravel bed 30.

As seen in Figure 3, a drain tile 38 may be extended longitudinally along the footer for receiving and conveying away water passing downwardly through the drain passages 36 and water-permeable gravel bed 30.

The passage-forming members 25 are preferably formed of plastic or a pressed wood product such as Masonite. In practice it has been found suitable to construct passage-forming member 25 with a height of 6 inches and a wall thickness of A of an inch with spacers or projections 35 preferably extending of an inch outwardly beyond outer surface 33 fo the member. It will be understood that spacers 35 may be integrally formed on member 25 or attached thereto and may be of various suitable shapes. As one alternative, strips 6 inches long, one inch wide, and A of an inch thick may be fastened to the outer surface 33 of passage-forming member 25. If such separate strips are employed to form spacers 35 they may be secured to the sheet portion by means of staples or a suitable mastic. It will further be understood that passageforming members 25 can be produced and supplied in any convenient length and assembled end to end along the entire lengths of the side walls 21.

In practicing the method of the present invention, side walls 21 are built on footer 31 in a conventional manner. Passage-forming members 25 are then positioned along the bases of inner surfaces 28 of side walls 21. The lower ends of passage-forming members 25 are rested on waterpermeable gravel bed 30. A self-hardening flooring material, such as concrete, is then poured over the floor space whereby such flooring material flows into engagement with the inner surfaces of passage-forming members 25. It will be understood that the flooring material will exert an outwardly directed force against passage- Patented Aug. 16, 19 0" forming members 25 and urge same into close contact with the inner surfaces 28 of side walls 21 and after the flooring material hardens, passage-forming members 25 are securely maintained in position between the peripheral edge 26 of floor 20 and the confronting surface 28 of the side walls. 1

As seen in Figures 2 and 3, approximately the upper half of passage-forming members 25 may be disposed above the upper surface 40 of floor 20 .to provide a moulding extending around the periphery of the floor at the junctions thereof with side walls 21. Hence the upper portions of passageforming members 25 provide a molding which elevates the entrances of drain passages 36 above the level of the floor. As a result, dirt accumulating on the floor will not enter the entrances to drain passages 36 and can be conveniently swept away without causing clogging of the drain passages. In addition, such base moulding lends an attractive appearance to the junctions between the side walls 21 and floor 20.

While the form of embodiment of the present inven-' tion as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow:

I claim: 1. A side Wall and floor construction for basements comprising vertical side walls defining the basement area with each of said side walls having outer and inner surfaces thereof, a vertical passage-forming, water-impermeable member positioned in laterally spaced relation to the inner surface of at least one of said side walls adjacent the bottom edge thereof, a plurality of spacer means in laterally spaced relation connecting said passage-forming member to the inner surface of said side wall thereby defining a plurality of vertical passageways spaced along the inner surface of said wall, and a poured concrete floor, the side edge of said floor being in engagement with the free face of said passage-forming member with the top surface of said floor lying below the top free edge of said passage-forming member.

2. A side wall and floor construction in accordance V with claim 1 wherein the water-impermeable member and the spacer means are integral with one another.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

